Peregrine Breeding Log for March 15 – 16, 2019:
Friday, March 15th was the warmest day yet, with temperatures reaching the 60s by the afternoon. It was windy but the winds were mild. Relatively light rain fell during the first half of the morning, but the skies cleared nicely after that. The falcons’ day began extremely early. Ares was at the nest box with prey at 3:17 AM.
The prey appeared to be most of an American Woodcock, which would be the first woodcock of the season. As Ares waited for Astrid to come and take the food offering, he fed on it. She showed up on the west veranda at 5:40 and he anxiously encouraged her to take the food. After a couple of minutes of posturing, she scrambled over the perch and took it from him. She flew away with it but didn’t go to the hotel ledge. In fact we’re not sure where she took it but she was only gone for about ten minutes, so she either stored it or dropped it. Astrid was never fond of woodcock flesh. At 7 AM, the pair converged at the box again. They may have performed a short dance. If so, we missed it. Afterwards, Ares fetched a different tribute for Astrid. It was small and may have been a bat. Evidently this was worthy of being taken to the hotel to feed on. A little while later he was back at the box and she was on the west veranda. There was a failed mating attempt at 7:30. An hour later, the falcons were doing a lot of vocalizing. We thought they may have been reacting to an intruder. Since Friday, migrant raptors have been taking advantage of favorable winds and moving through the region. It could have been a Peregrine they were “talking” to, or it could have been something else.
At 9:30, the pair mated again – this time successfully. At this point the rain was falling heavier in downtown and it served throw a wet blanket on the falcons’ activities. By 10, the precipitation slowed down a bit and Ares flew up to the lookout. We couldn’t find Astrid for a little while, but then we noticed her on one of the steeple perches. We expected Ares to try to mate with her there, but instead he was busy flying back and forth between the lookout post and the box. At 11:00, he tried to mate with her, but pulled up again before landing on her back. A half-hour later, he came to the nest box perch with a freshly caught American Robin. He proceeded to pluck it right there on the main perch. When it was failing to have the intended effect on Astrid, he screeched off into the canyon with it and stored it somewhere. He then came back to the box without it. At noon the pair shared a ledge display at the box. It lasted about ten minutes and featured little movement on the dance floor. Ares spent the end of the dance standing in his huge scrape, just looking at Astrid. Once he left, she went over to his divot and stood in it for a few minutes. It was as if she was trying it on for size. She did some housekeeping chores after that and dug a nice scrape of her own on the other side of the box. When she left the nest at 9:40, she landed on the State Building on a ledge right above where he was perched. At 1 PM, Ares was up and then so was she. There was a lot of falcon vocalizations echoing through the canyon. We didn’t know what was going on, but we suspected an intruder was spotted. He was back to the box ten minutes later. He was chirping as if he saw her, but we couldn’t locate Astrid with our optics. Deb last saw her flying to the north.
Ares returned to the canyon at 2 o’clock and took a perch on one of the hotel ledges. A half-hour later he flew to the box and was calling. It sounded like he must have had Astrid in view, but we still couldn’t spot her. He left and then came right back with a food offering. When Astrid didn’t come, he rushed off with it, screeching through the canyon. One of the falcons – probably Ares, was then seen plucking away at something on the west face of the State Building. Astrid finally showed up again on camera at 3 PM.
Other than Ares coming to the box at unpredictable intervals and giving long wailing calls, the birds were enjoying a less than dramatic afternoon. But then, at 4:30, sharp falcon vocalizations filled the canyon and both our birds were engaging with another Peregrine. Deb saw three in flight with two actively sparing, but she couldn’t get any good details on the stranger. At 4:45, Astrid and Ares made a brief stop at the nestbox and then bolted out again, presumably to resume their pursuit of the interloper. While Deb was scanning for falcons, she noticed a pair of Bald Eagles flying north of the canyon. Ares returned to the box at 5:10, but he appeared anxious, which meant his mate probably wasn’t back yet. Apparently, she had been on route. Upon her return the pair shared a short ledge display, after which Ares retrieved a gift. He gave it to her at the box and she took it to the hotel.
Saturday, March 16th had a cold, windy start and it pretty much stayed that way. Actually, it even got windier as the day progressed. Snow squalls were intermittent. A few minutes before 6 AM, Ares was heard screeching somewhere in the canyon. He was probably flying by Astrid’s perch. A minute later he came to the box. He had a Woodcock in his talons. When Astrid failed to appear, he shot out again into the darkness. He was still screeching. At 6:20, Ares returned to the box with his gift. Astrid was not coming fast enough so he stored the plump sandpiper on the east face of the State Building. At 6:30, the pair came to the box together. He had the food again and this time she took it. She towed it over to the hotel ledge where we could just barely make out her form tearing away at it. It was still dark, and a steady wind made the PTZ camera shutter like a leaf. As it was, she didn’t eat that much of it. Woodcock is just not her favorite. After the handoff, Ares screeched out of the box like a wild man. He is getting increasingly intense as we get deeper into the breeding season and closer to egg-laying time. After feeding, she flew up to perch on the State Building. He sailed up to the lookout post. The strong winds were allowing the falcons to fly much faster than usual. Essentially, they were doing everything at double-speed and with little or no effort.
At 7:00, Ares took a perch right above Astrid’s ledge on the State Building, but he didn’t stay there long. He was desperately trying to get her over to the box. He flew there himself and sat on his mega scrape for a while. If we didn’t know better, we’d think he was incubating eggs. By 7:30, he had gone to the hotel and was feeding on the leftovers from Astrid’s breakfast. Ten minutes later he brought that food (or something else) to the box. He gave a long screech call and then flew out again. He then brought it up to the ledge right next to where Astrid was perched – then he was up again. His next stop was to the nest where he resumed sitting on his scrape.
By 8 AM he was back to the State Building and on a ledge adjacent to Astrid’s ledge. There they stayed for the better part of two hours. It was almost as if they were waiting for the Saint Patrick Day parade to begin. Afterall, they had very good seats. Just before 10:00, both falcons were up again. In what may have been a flight display, Astrid flew around the State Building at lightning speed and then landed back on a north face ledge. The pair mated right after that, but it may not have been a successful mating. To the music of bagpipes (thanks to the parade), Ares brought Astrid another food tribute. He brought it right up to the ledge she was perched on. Now that’s service! Right after that, he dashed back to the box and wiped his bill on the main perch. At 11:10, Ares was sitting on his big scrape again and making squeaking vocalizations. He wanted Astrid to come to the box. She left her perch but did not come to the nest. He followed after her and the two were out of camera view for the next couple of hours. At 1 PM, I stopped downtown to check on them and saw they were both perched on the east face of the Adirondack Bank building. There they were out of the wind and snow. Ares was snoozing and Astrid seemed to be giving me “the look”. She is no fan of the paparazzi. At 1:50, the pair came to the box in tandem and kind of performed a ledge display. Well, Astrid was doing her usual part, but Ares was just standing in his scrape. With this behavior, we think he was indicating to Astrid where she is supposed to lay the eggs. He left after 8 minutes and in his absence, Astrid came over and stood in Ares’ scrape for a little while. She even did some touch up work on it – moving a few loose stones about and checking the wall above for soundness.
After being out of view for a while, Ares returned to the box at 2:40. He was chirping and very excited. Despite his day-long exhibition of raw energy, or perhaps because of it, he fell asleep on his scrape. He was gone at 3 PM, but then back to the nest a half-hour later. We noticed he had some blood on his talons, which meant he probably just returned from a successful hunt. Following that he was back and forth between the box and somewhere else a few more times in rapid succession. Yes, he was back to being boundless energy man. At 4:00, he wasted no time in chasing after a possible intruder – some migrant raptor that likely only innocently strayed into the canyon. Astrid was back on the State Building at that time and she took the opportunity of Ares’ police action to circumnavigate the building and then return to a north face perch. Both were on the State Building at 4:30. A half-hour later, he was observed feeding on leftovers on the hotel. Still, no time for sloth, he bounced back and forth between the State Building and the box twice in the subsequent twenty minutes. At 6 PM, the pair mated on the State Building. He then very purposefully soared up to the lookout perch where he stayed for about 15 minutes. He then buzzed by her at high speed, doubled back and took a perch right near her. Astrid retired for the night at 6:30, but Ares kept going for a while longer. He came to the box a few times and uttered plaintive long calls. He was last seen at 7:10, perched on the hotel ledge. Goodnight falcons.